Sensation of bitter taste in mouth_What could it be?

I have the same problem... I"m at Vassar College and two days ago I ate a little salad from the college dining facilities- with pine nuts. let's not blame CHINA or whatever country these nuts are from. what the hell is the FDA doing?

Thanks to all who have posted on this pine nut thing. Count me as yet another who is experiencing the bitter taste and went searching for help on the internet. The only pine nuts I've eaten recently were in Costco's pesto sauce. My husband hasn't suffered the same reaction, though, so it seems to only affect certain people.

It's interesting that this phenomenon is affecting people all over the world, not just in the USA. I have no doubt that China is the culprit and will also report this to the FDA.

those of you experiencing this might be interested in this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_nut#Risks_of_eating_pine_nuts

the timing of these posts caught my attention. I got this sensation today during and after I had my cream cheese begal during breakfast at the local deli. Cant remember the type of bagel though - likely a wholewheat

I snack the chinese pinenuts all the time. Never had that problem. And as if posters on this thread would care: I discovered pine nuts enhances the taste of tuna/mayo mix quite a bit. :-)

So glad I'm not going crazy! Had a look on the internet after all food and drink caused this horrible bitter taste in my mouth that was so hard to get rid of. It has been going on for 2 days and counting, getting worse with each meal and with me praying it wont last much longer. I have to admit that I bought a bag of nuts from a reputable store specializing in nuts here in Australia. It was an "energy mix" of almonds, sunflower, pumpkin and PINE NUTS, with the latter being the bulk of the bag. Who knew? Never again will I ever go near these nuts again! But does anyone know how to fix it, or does it just have to run its course?

this has happened to me too. I have been eating handfulls of pine nuts every day fo the past week and ... horrible bitter taste in my mouth at all times no matter what I eat or drink. I need to find out if this is harmful!

I am so glad I found this site...I thought I was either pregnant, had PID or was being poisoned!

I have had this horrid soapy/bitter taste in my mouth after eating and drinking for two days ......and guess what? I too have been eating pinenuts. I had to do some research to find out that I've been eating chinese pinenuts, that information wasn't on the bag. Apparently the british health food store I bought them from 'sources its pinenuts from China as the Chinese pine nut has a stronger flavour with a teardrop shape. ' Damn right they have a stronger flavour!!! Rancid and long lasting....oh I can taste it now. Yuk! I'm off to shave my tongue.

Count me in as another victim of pine nuts! I've eaten them for years and never had this reaction before. I'm going on 3 days with the bitter taste. I just chucked the bag they came from. Mine were bought at Walmart in Texas, they are Diamond of California, product of China. I didn't notice the best if used by date is 12/16/07. My bad, I guess they were rancid! >:( No more pine nuts for me!

Thanks to everyone for posting! I thought there was a problem with my liver! I guess it just has to run it's course.......

this thread (and the original) is a lifesaver. i've been getting increasingly worried about the bitter/metallic taste in the back of my throat/mouth for about a week now. i, too, was eating pine nuts (probably old) from china very recently and i'm sure that's the cause. i just threw the rest of the bag in the garbage and i'll never touch them again. a big thanks to everyone who shared their experiences here - it was extremely helpful. i can finally relax now...

This link explains it:

euro-emergencymed.com/pt/re/ejem/fulltext.00063110-200103000-00036.htm;jsessionid=L9vPysGdH25Gc2cW1pLyL3pRK2hh2J1WwQqkX6SSN4TqfLRxzsWR!-93356440!181195629!8091!-1


QUOTE:

European Journal of Emergency Medicine:Volume 8(1)March 2001p 76
Taste disturbances after pine nut ingestion
[THE XXXVIII CONGRESS OF THE SOCIETY FOR CLINICAL TOXICOLOGY: Abstracts]
Taste disturbances after pine nut ingestion M. Mostin Poisons Centre, Brussels, Belgium Case report: A colleague anaesthesiologist experienced two episodes of taste disturbances after pine nut ingestion. At the first time, he just consumed a handful of pine nuts. Two days later, he developed an episode of taste disturbances (bitter, metallic taste). The disturbances lasted a few days. He made a link between pine nuts and the taste disturbances after the second episode when his wife and friends who shared with him a dish prepared with the same pine nuts complained of a persisting bitter taste sensation 2 days after the meal. Examination of the pine nuts revealed they were oxidized and not fit for consumption. No fungal contamination was found. No explanation was found for the taste disturbances. In the following months, six similar cases were reported to the Poisons Centre. The pine nuts involved in those cases were imported from China. The pine species remain unidentified. Analysis on pesticide residues and heavy metal did not reveal any contamination. One member of the medical team of the Poisons Centre tested on himself several brands of pine nuts and experienced two separate episodes of taste disturbances with the pine nuts imported from China. The phenomenon remained unexplained. A student in pharmacy undertook chromatographic examinations on two samples involved in the taste disturbances and compared them with pine nuts from other origins. This led to the isolation of constituants compatible with triglycerids, formed by 16-18°C unsaturated fatty acids. The role of those triglycerids in the taste disturbances remains hypothetic.

Section Description
Abstracts or communications presented during the XXXVIII Congress of the Society for Clinical Toxicology, organized in Brussels on 7 and 8 December 2000, with the participation of The Belgian-Luxembourg Society of Toxicology (BLT) The Belgian Society of Intensive Care (SIZ) The Belgian Society of Emergency and Disaster Medicine (BESEDIM) The French Society of Analytical Toxicology (SFTA)

© 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

Thanks to all for the information. I (like others) searched for a reason why everything I ate tasted horribly bitter. I was starting to think something was seriously wrong with me. Then I stumbled across this forum. I too ate pine nuts on a salad (made with my homegrown spinach because I'm afraid to eat store bought spinach!). On May 29th I ate the salad and by May 30th I was asking my family over and over "does this taste bitter to you?" Everything tastes bitter! My morning coffee, my orange juice, a glass of wine, my biscotti, other nuts, fruit, sugary things, just about everything! UGH! It's June 2 and it doesn't show any signs of letting up! I bought my pine nuts in the organic section of a Giant Food Store in central Pennsylvania. I'm usually very vigilant about checking where things come from and never buy anything Made in China. Unfortunately, I didn't check the package on these (I thought I was buying organic, but hey, I guess that doesn't mean anything). I will check the package when I go home tonight, but I suspect they will be from China. It just makes me so mad! Can anyone tell me how long this can last? 2 weeks?? Does anyone think there will be any lasting effects?? Something must be done about the safey of our food sources!!!!!!! I intead to write the store where I purchased them and call the FDA. What else can we do???

I, too, am experiencing a bitter/soapy taste during and after eating. I had made pesto on Monday night, symptems started on Wednesday. It is now Thursday night, and the taste seems to be getting worse!

My husband ate the pesto too, but has no symptoms! I toasted the pinenuts for the pesto, but snuck a handful raw before they hit the pan. I wonder if the toasting changed something??

I bought these pine nuts from a bulk bin at Winco market a few months ago and stored in the freezer. I have prepared pine nuts for years and have never had any problems before.

I will post when this taste goes away and let you know how long it lasted.

Wow, I am in California....Same thing as all of you. I sure wish someone would post after the taste goes away so we know it will go away!

I called Dr. Dean Edell (National radio DR.) today and he never heard of this! I ate Pine Nuts on Sunday and the bitter taste started on Tuesday. I went to my local grocery store today and sure enough, the Pine Nuts i had purchased were from China! I had a long discussion with the manager and brought him print outs from the European Journal of Emergency Medicine and the Wikipedia article.

It has gotten worse today. By now has anyone found a way to reduce the taste disturbance?

Hi - I the same thing happened to me. I had pine nuts six days ago - they were in my seaweed salad at a japanese restaurant in West Hartford, CT. My symptoms started yesterday at lunch - I thought the food i was eating was tainted...Then yesterday evening I had dinner, and i had the same result. It is the back of my tongue, and the foul flavor is worse after consuming something sugary or sweet. I am currently sucking on an altoid, and it is not helping at all.

I'm finally over it (I think!). It took over two weeks for me to get rid of the noticeably bitter taste. Now, I will only occasionally get that bitter sensation if I eat something sweet, but it's barely discernable. I believe a lot more people are affected by this, but they just don't relate it to pine nuts because it takes almost two days for the symptoms to appear. I contacted the Pennsylvania branch of the FDA, and he had never heard of it before. He was going to investigate it and call me back, but I haven't heard back from him (probably too busy with the salmonella in tomatoes). I also wrote a letter to Ann's House of Nuts who manufactured the pine nuts, but I have not heard back from them either. Here is the website to complain to the FDA in the United States by state. http://www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/complain.html.
If enough people complain, then maybe something will be done about it.
Hang in there. It will go away, eventually.